It wasn’t something they wanted to do either – it was a purely financial decision. The National Association of Realtors constantly sells how wonderful life as a real estate agent is. How, while we’re going through a “hiccup”, it’s a great place to work! It’s going to be interesting to see how the NAR spins this, if they cover it, that is.

The listing service Valley real-estate agents use to advertise homes for sale canceled more than 20 percent of its memberships this month after raising fees by about 70 percent in June.

“In July, we had to turn off 8,000 agents due to non-payment,” said Bob Bemis, Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service chief executive officer.

Bemis said he was expecting about 4,500 agents to drop the service, which renews memberships annually on July 1, mainly because so many of them are leaving the business.

“It’s been going on nationwide,” Bemis said, adding that the real-estate industry expects to lose 150,000 agents this year across the country.

Membership in the service went from about 36,000 in June to 28,000 in July, but Bemis said he expects about 3,000 of those former members to rejoin.

However, it’s also a financial decision for the real estate agents that realized that you can’t just go to school, take your license, pass your test, join the NAR and MLS, and start your way to a six figure income. Read the rest of this entry »

Got this email from Mark and wanted to help clear things up a bit.

Having gone through the same thing a while back, being unaware of how scores work and what scores you’re getting can get more expensive with every mistake.

A few months ago at my credit union, I was curious about my score so a rep brought me back into her cube area and helped me figure out what my payments would be on a car I was looking at. Although she wasn’t supposed to, she told me what my score was and it was higher than I expected (in the low 700’s), so I was happy. She did ask about a few items that shouldn’t be there though. Incorrect addresses, and a credit card for a store I’ve never shopped at before.

So I went online to Experian and purchased a credit score there. But they had my score at almost 100 points LESS! I haven’t done anything between the visit to the bank and haven’t done anything for a few months before that so nothing should be changing. It listed the incorrect addresses and the store account and nothing else, so it seems to be the same data the teller told me about.

Why are the scores so drastically different? Experian called my score their “PLUS” score. Is this my FICO score? What score did the bank use?

Great question. Ok Mark, first off: there are MANY different credit scoring systems. Additionally, lenders even use DIFFERENT versions of the same score you purchase. It’s frustrating, I understand, but here are some general things to keep in mind.

I’m personally a huge fan of the FICO score as it seems to be the most inclusive and widely accepted score. I’ll explain that a bit later. Even FICO scores though, can be different depending on who is pulling it. Whether you’re a consumer or a lender.

The Different Credit Scores

Experian’s Credit Score

Experian and their affiliates (FreeCreditReport.com – You’ve probably heard their annoyingly catchy commercial) will give you a PLUS score. Keep in mind that credit score sites are annoyingly similar with regards to their naming conventions. If you order from AnnualCreditReport.com (which often advertises that you get a free report every 12 months), you’re going to get a VantageScore which is different from the PLUS and the FICO score. The PLUS score is pretty similar to your FICO score. The VantageScore can be around 100 points off – possibly what you experienced. The reason for this is the ranges and the formulas used to find your place in that range. VantageScores go from 501 to 990 where a FICO or PLUS score goes from 300 to 850.

Equifax’s Credit Score

Equifax actually uses FICO scores for most of their products. Equifax helped develop the VantageScore with the other 2 bureaus, but doesn’t appear to be selling it any longer. If you order a credit report through Equifax, like their 3-in-1 report, you’re less likely to notice large variations elsewhere because they use the FICO score.

Read the rest of this entry »

When applying for credit, you want as few inquiries as possible, but interestingly enough: “Ironically, your credit score will likely be more damaged if you’re approved for the account than if you’re denied. If you are approved, you’ll have the damaging hard inquiry plus some damage in the credit age category resulting from having a newly opened account. Your credit score will improve as you use the new account responsibly.” (Credit.com)

Gas selling for about $4 a gallon translates into credit-card fees of about 10 cents a gallon, cutting, or altogether eliminating, any profit for stations, which typically mark up gas about 11 to 12 cents a gallon.

“It is a problem,” said Saad, whose family runs Two Brothers Distributing and 13 Valero and am/pm ARCO gas stations in the Valley. “We’re not making any money on gas.” (AZCentral)